A slurry is formed by suspending a ground solid in a liquid. Slurries are employed for transporting ground solids in operations such as mining, marine dredging, and others. Slurry pumps are used in the hydraulic transport of these slurries and, depending on the physical hardness of the suspended solids, slurry pumps must operate in potentially very abrasive environments.
The mechanics of “wear” in a centrifugal slurry pump are multifaceted and vary depending on the overall hydraulic design of the system and of the pump itself, as well as the operating conditions in terms of the concentration and physical make-up of the solids in the slurry. A particular nuisance is the wear that occurs at the periphery of the impeller outlet and its adjacent components, these being the pump housing or casing and suction liner and, depending on the pump design, the gland side or engine side liner. The root cause of this problem is the recirculating eddy current impingement wear that occurs as the solids-laden slurry exits the impeller outlet and enters the pump housing. This problem is ever present and does not discriminate between manufacturers and pump designs.